MIT Technology Review

Spaceplanes, giant rockets, tethers and catapults

Satellites are so crucial that attacking them could be seen as an act of war. The bad news is, it may have already happened.

A short story about nanosatellites, love, and freedom

As bigger probes get sent into space, the problem of how to slow them down again is getting harder

China, the US, and the European Space Agency are sending vehicles to explore the red planet. They’ll be joined by a Russian lander and an Emirati orbiter.

Relativity Space, a well-funded startup, is going all-in on additive manufacturing. But is that too much of a good thing?

Dave Masten builds rockets on a shoestring in the desert—can he help NASA reinvent itself as a lean, agile enterprise?

Hard to justify in practical terms, a return to the moon nonetheless seems almost inevitable

The Libra cryptocurrency was unveiled on a wave of hype and speculation. But what its white paper suggested about Facebook’s vision for how we manage our identifying credentials may be just as important.

LightSail-2’s large reflective sails will unfurl in about a week, capturing light from the sun and using that to propel the spacecraft

LeadGenius claims to be an online contract company that treats its workers with more respect. Its founder and CEO Prayag Narula tells us why fairness is at its core.

Using farms to capture and store more carbon in soil is becoming trendy, but the science is still not settled on how much it can help to address climate change.

Squirrels mislabeled as sea lions and dragonflies confused with manhole covers are challenging algorithms to be more resilient to attacks.

Donald Trump, Elizabeth Warren, and other presidential hopefuls will be protected against AI doppelgängers thanks to a technique that looks at how they move.

In the last few years, the machine-learning community has blossomed, applying the technology to challenges like food security and health care.

One measured photon has roughly the energy of a falling ping-pong ball.

A new US bill would make it legal for private companies to chase hackers across the internet. It’s a terrible idea that simply will not die.

Physicists and philosophers have long claimed that life can form only in a universe like ours, with three dimensions of space and one of time. That thinking may need to be revised.

AI, computer modeling, and data mining are tools for a new field focusing on how games have evolved.

Machine learning has the potential to make some real inroads against our biggest threat.

Peter Beck founded Rocket Lab, which 3D-prints rocket engines for NASA. We talked to him about the technology’s benefits—and the future of the fledgling small launch industry.

A new system that listens for a telltale gasping sound could get you vital help in time.

The launch of Facebook’s new coin is certainly a big event, but so much about it remains unsettled.

Bitcoin miners and data scientists love cheap, green Icelandic processing power. Maybe a little too much.

Robots that can rapidly plan out their movements could accelerate factory automation—and help keep fragile humans safe.

Most of it, say astrophysicists, if we want to guarantee the future of humanity.

A group called Xenotime, which began by targeting oil and gas facilities in the Middle East, now has electrical utilities in the US and Asia in its sights.

Construction companies are developing an AI system that predicts worksite injuries—an example of the growing use of workplace surveillance.

A new test for measuring awareness in fruit flies could change the way neuroscientists think about and measure consciousness.